WHERE DID DECEMBER GO?

I can't believe December is already over! The holidays are always so busy for our family. Between business at Burns Saddlery, Burns Cowboy Shop, & the National Finals Rodeo, finding time to take Ains & Addi to school, dance, & singing, & balancing my church calling, busy may be an understatement (oh yea, I should probably mention my responsibility of being MOM in there too).

As always, Braydan & the NFR crew left the Sunday after Thanksgiving for Las Vegas so the girls & I were left home alone during the busiest, most hectic, crazy month of the year (such a bummer). This year Brayd was gone for 15 days which is actually 2-3 days less than previous years. We were pretty excited about that! While he was gone Alivia had her 6 month check up which went pretty well, other than she broke out in this weird rash while she was on antibiotics for ear infections (actually her left ear drum had burst). Liv has since been back to the doctor two more times because of this peculiar rash & not one of the four doctors she has seen knows what the cause of it is. I am taking her to a dermatologist as soon as possible.

On Saturday, December 6th Alivia & I were able to go to Temple Square in Salt Lake City with the Young Women & Young Men of our ward. It was alot of fun. We attended the Joseph Smith movie at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. It was absolutely phenomenal & I highly recommend it. After the movie, most of our group went ice skating at the Gallivan's Plaza. Alivia & I walked over to The Gateway to shop with the rest of our group. We all then met at the Tabernacle to walk around Temple Square & view the lights. I am always in awe at the beauty of Temple Square, no matter what time of year it is. It was truly a great day.

The following week was cRazY!!! I worked every day except Wednesday, decorated for & attended the Ward Christmas Party, & watched Addison sing at the Richfield Care Center. Not to mention, I tried to keep up on the regular every day stuff like running the girls to school, doing the laundry, grocery shopping, making dinner, etc., etc., etc.... While we were at the Ward Christmas Party each of the girls took their turn to sit on Santa's lap. When it was Addison's turn she hopped up on his lap & told him exactly what she wanted, a PONY! Santa immediately glanced my way then turned back to her & said, "You know, Rudolph won't let me deliver ponies to little boys & girls because he just doesn't like them." She looked at him & said, "OK, then I want a pupcake kitchen." All I can say is, THANK YOU SANTA!!!

The week before Christmas was even CRaZieR! Braydan finally got home, which we were all so happy about. We had missed him so much. I still had to finish up my shopping which (thank goodness) was not much. But the only gifts I had wrapped were the gifts I had mailed to the Gladwell's. Needless to say, I spent a couple of nights wrapping into the early morning hours. Ainsley & Addison had Christmas Parties Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday that week, so we had plenty of "goody bags" to assemble. For Young Womens we did the 12 days of Christmas for some of our inactive girls, so Rochelle & I spent a couple of nights getting their gifts ready for delivery. We also put together our gifts to all of our girls & delivered them (they turned out super cute by the way). I also worked every single day but Tuesday (one night until 4:15 am, cRAzY!!!). On Sunday, we made a quick trip to Provo which was a total waste of our time. The only good thing about that trip was that I got to deliver my Christmas gift to Jami (my totally aWeSOMe hair dresser) before the holiday. Finally, the week of Christmas arrived. I didn't work one hour that week (hallelujah). Ains, Addi, Alivia, & I wrapped & delivered gifts, made sugar cookies, watched Christmas movies, & played. It was so nice to just relax & enjoy the holiday season, even if it was only for three days.

This year we spent Christmas Eve with my family. We met my Mom at my Grandpa & Grandma Buchanan's for dinner. We visited while we stuffed ourselves with yummy food. We then headed back home where my Dad & the Memmott's were meeting us to watch a movie. After everyone had gone home for the night, we opened our Christmas Eve presents (a pair of jammies & a Christmas book which Braydan & I write a special note in about the past year for each of the girls). Ains & Addi were eager to get into their new jammies so we could snuggle up on the couch & read their new books.

Once we read their books, we headed into Ainsley & Addison's bedroom to tuck them in. They were pretty excited that Santa would be delivering their gifts very soon. After saying our prayers, they both insisted that they could hear Santa on the roof but it didn't take them long before they were sound asleep (thank goodness). On Christmas morning, Braydan & I ended up waking all three girls up around 8:00 am because we were so excited for them. We had an awesome Christmas!! Ainsley got the tea set she had asked for, Addison got the cupcake kitchen she had asked for, & Braydan surprised me with a brand new Canon Rebel XSi (I LOVE IT!!!). We are still enjoying Christmas at our house. Addison wakes up every single morning & says, "Mom, did you remember that it is still Christmas?" We have had so much fun watching movies, playing games, baking cupcakes, having tea parties, sleeping on brand new sheets, wearing new clothes, & taking pictures.

On New Years Eve, the girls & I met our friends Tiffany, Tai, & Teya at the Aurora church to play. Tiff brought a bucket full of balls of all sizes for the girls to play with. They had alot of fun! They also had alot of fun pushing Alivia around the gym floor in the bucket. After a while, we went to Tiff's house & had lunch.

That night Jake, Tiffany, Tai, & Teya came over to our house to ring in the new year. The girls had a ball dressing up & playing while we watched our favorite episodes of The Office & visited. Braydan & I are so grateful for good friends. We just love the Quarnbergs! Where did December go? I'm not quite sure, it was such a blur but I do know that I am very grateful for an awesome 2008 & can't wait to see what 2009 holds for my families future. Happy New Year!!!